Sweet As Sugar
by darkangel199113
Summary: Maggie secretly leaves an MP3 player for Beth in her room as a birthday gift. Beth decides to have a party by herself in her cell with her new gift, but is soon caught in mid-dance by Daryl. (One-Shot)


Living in a prison was definitely not something Beth thought she'd ever be doing. Of course when you live in a zombie infested world, there wasn't many places you could live. It just seemed beyond ironic how life before now, prison was the last place anyone ever wanted to be. Now Beth couldn't imagine living anywhere else. Just like she couldn't imagine living without the family she had found in all these people that had stumbled upon her farm. It felt like a lifetime ago that she had met them, when in reality it was probably only a few months ago. Without really knowing what month it was, everything just seemed like a lifetime ago. She was pretty sure this whole Apocalypse thing started a year ago, yet it felt like the life she had before was someone else's entirely.

With a sigh, Beth plopped down on her bed and glanced around her tiny cell block. It wasn't much as far as rooms go, but it felt almost like a normal room. It was the closet thing to normal that anyone could really get anymore.

She reached down and tugged her boots off before putting her feet up. She felt exhausted after staying up all night with Judith. Rick had been tired after spending all day in the garden, so she offered to take care of Judith last night while he slept. The poor baby was starting to teeth, but Beth didn't have anything to really give her. She only managed to get her back to sleep after giving her a bottle of warm milk. It was the best she could do at the time. She made a mental note to tell Glenn or Michonne to look for something on their next run. She wasn't sure anymore who spent more time outside of the prison. Of course there was always Daryl too, but he probably spent even less time around than Glenn and Michonne. It seemed to just be his nature. Or more like he was so in love with nature that he had to sleep in it. She didn't really know what he did in the woods. She knew hunting was apart of the equation, but her knowledge fell short after that.

After a few minutes passed, Beth glanced toward the desk on the opposite wall. Her eyes fell upon a square object and she instantly got to her feet. She walked over to her desk and gingerly picked up the tiny MP3 player with confusion. She turned it over in her palm before her eyes fell upon a piece of paper, and a package of ear buds on top of it. She moved the ear buds aside and grabbed the paper, a smile spreading across her face as she read it over in her head.

_Bethie,_

_I don't really know if it's your birthday yet, but I'm pretty sure it's around this time. I made Glenn grab this on a run, so you make sure to thank him later when you see him. Anyway, it should work just fine for today. Thought I'd give you the joys of music for your eighteenth birthday. Have fun and don't sing too loudly!_

Beth shook her head as she read over the little note again. She shouldn't have been so surprised that Maggie remembered. After all, Beth still remembered the frame of time Maggie's birthday was. She had managed to get her the best birthday present she had ever wanted: a brand new pair of underwear!

It probably would have been a gag gift in their old life, but now it was the best thing they could ever find. Of course, much in the same fashion that Maggie had gotten Beth's gift, Beth had made Glenn get the underwear for her. At least Maggie's gift hadn't made Glenn turn fifty shades of red.

With a grin on her lips, Beth picked up the ear buds and untangled them. She then plugged them into the MP3 player and pressed a button to shuffle the songs. She had no idea what music was on there, but apparently there was at least 142 files. She hoped that there was at least ten good ones. Although, after only hearing her own singing voice for so long, Beth was willing to accept a cheesy boy band song to groove out to.

The first song began to play and Beth couldn't help but grin. It was a country song by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. She sat down on her bed and closed her eyes as it started getting into the chorus. She was almost tempted to sing along, but it was a love song and she didn't know who might be passing by her cell. It would probably seem a little weird if she started singing lyrics from I Need You to herself.

Once that song ended, another country song began to play. Beth laid back on her bed and just listened as one country song after another graced her ears. However, she started to get a little annoyed with her choice of music. It wasn't like she hated country, but she wanted something lively. She was pretty tired right now, but she wanted to get up and dance. She hadn't danced by herself in so long. It was technically her birthday, and she just wanted to enjoy it by herself.

She sat up and stopped the song that was playing, allowing her ears to hear people starting to wake up around the prison. It had been pretty early in the morning when she returned to her cell. The sun hadn't even rose in the sky, and the whole prison was pretty dark. As she looked out into the main part of the prison, she could clearly see a stream of sunlight pouring in from outside. She decided to ignore everyone else and began hitting the "next" button on her MP3. No one would be bothering her for the rest of the day. She knew that Rick was taking care of Judith for a while, which meant she had plenty of time to herself.

Her search on the player stopped as it finally landed on a song that wasn't country. She almost wanted to laugh as the lyrics of Sugar by Flo Rida began to play. She had never really been into the music that was produced during her time, but this song reminded her of a memory. To Hershel's horror, Maggie and Beth had decided to play this particular one on repeat for weeks. They usually would sing along to it and dance like complete idiots. She suddenly wished Maggie was here so they could dance together, even if they probably had no dance skills whatsoever. They never really cared. They had fun just hanging out and being silly.

Beth jumped to her feet and began to dance by herself. She was overcome with the memory of her past and began singing along to the lyrics. She was surprised that she actually remembered them so well.

"My lips like sugar, so call me your sugar. This candy got you sprung. This candy got you sprung!" As she sung, she couldn't help but giggle in between the words that came from her mouth. She knew she was throwing her arms and legs wildly in motion, but she didn't care. For once in a long time, Beth was actually having fun.

At that same moment, Daryl had walked back into the prison after a long shift in the tower. He stopped instantly as the sound of someone singing hit his ears. He knew that voice pretty well by now. There wasn't a day he didn't hear her singing to Judith. However, he'd never heard her singing by herself in her cell, and he'd certainly never heard her sing something like that. Curiosity got the better of him, and he made his way over to her cell. As soon as he came to the door way, he stopped in his tracks and stared at Beth's back. She was still singing, but now he could see her hips were swaying back and forth while the rest of her swayed in tune.

Daryl wasn't really sure if he should try to get her attention. He suddenly felt extremely amused to watch her. And when she began to rap, he would have laughed out loud if the words hadn't made his eyes wonder down the length of her backside. He quickly shook his head and averted his eyes away. He definitely didn't need to think those thoughts about Beth, even if she was making it so easy for him to do just that.

"You like my sugar, my sugar; you so sweet, so sweet. Like my candy, my candy; you so sweet, so sweet. I got a good appetite with you on me, on me," she sung as she slowly turned around to face the door. As soon as she did, she came face to face with a rather amused looking Daryl.

It was a sudden chain reaction as Beth jumped and tugged the ear buds from her ears. She practically tripped over her own feet, knocking over a few things on her desk when she bumped into it. Curse her tiny space. Curse Daryl even more for walking in on her dancing like a fool and singing a song that she had no right to be singing around anyone, let alone Daryl Dixon. Daryl, on the other hand, just kept standing there. He was practically leaning against the bars as he watched her stumble about.

"Uh, hey," she said quietly, her eyes darting all over the room. She quickly brought her hand up to her head and swiped a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Hey," he replied nonchalantly. Beth wasn't sure what to think of his calm expression. If only she knew that he was trying extremely hard to keep his mind from picturing her amusing dance. He was a mixture of amused and excited, and he wasn't really sure what to think of either one.

"Is there something you want?" she asked a little breathlessly. For a moment she thought she saw something flicker in his eyes. She was just trying hard not to address the elephant in the room, so to speak.

"Nah," he said as he pushed away from the bars.

Beth didn't know what to say at that point. Daryl didn't really know what to say either. He was tempted to say something about what he just saw, but something inside him was stirring. He didn't want to put a name to it. He knew exactly what it was, but associating it with Beth made him feel all sorts of confusion. However, the air was full of awkward silence that neither one wanted to break. There was no one else around to interrupt, so he really only had two options. He either spoke to her or walked away. Since he was feeling more awkward by the minute, he certainly didn't want to speak. However, he certainly didn't want to walk away either. He didn't know what to think of that. So that only left invisible option number three: wait for Beth to make the first move.

After a long moment, she finally cleared her throat and looked down at the MP3 player in her hand. "Maggie got it for my birthday. I don't even know if it is my birthday, but I thought I'd use it now."

"Mhm," he replied as he put his thumbnail to his bottom lip and bit nervously upon his nail.

"I didn't think anyone would hear me," she added as she glanced toward him. Suddenly, a small shade of red began to grace her cheeks as she thought about the song that had just been playing. To make it even worse, the song was still playing through the ear buds in her hands. She hadn't even realized that she had set it on repeat, so the song had started from the beginning and was blasting through the empty space between them.

Daryl glanced down at the ear buds as the music played. Maybe it was the way she was looking at him at that moment that compelled him to do what he did next. Or maybe it was just the lyrics that came from her mouth. Either way, he really wanted to know at that moment if her lips really did taste like sugar. Before she said another word, he stepped forward and grabbed her wrists. He didn't want to lose his nerve, so he quickly leaned forward, closed his eyes and pressed his lips to hers. Her own eyes widen drastically and for a moment, he feared she would pull away. Instead, she pressed her lips back against his.

Her hands went limp in his grip, and the MP3 player fell to the ground at their feet. His hands traveled up her arms and up to cup her face as he kept his lips tightly against hers. It was a rather sloppy kiss as far as kisses go. He wasn't the most experienced guy in the world. Sure, he'd been with a few girls in his time, but nothing really serious. Kissing was usually not in the equation, and when he did kiss them, it was a quick peck. But with his hands on her face and her hands on his waist, Daryl felt like he could probably kiss Beth over and over again. It certainly didn't hurt that her body was pressed against his as she happily returned the gesture, even if her reply was just as shy.

After a short moment of moving their lips together in a closed mouth kiss, Daryl pulled away and slowly opened his eyes. He stared at Beth as she slowly opened her own eyes, having closed them once she gave herself over to the moment. Her face was even redder than before, and he had to push aside the urge to kiss her again. Yeah, that innocent look on her face was definitely the reason he wanted to do it in the first place. And now he was even more amused that he had effectively made her turn beat red with just the touch of his lips against hers.

"Guess they really are sweet like sugar," he murmured to her softly before taking his hands away from her face and backing up. His words only made that blush even more prominent, and he found that he enjoyed making her blush.

Before she could say anything, he decided to turn and leave. She didn't stop him, so he decided that she was just too speechless to say anything. He wasn't entirely sure what had just happened, but he knew one thing was for sure. Beth Greene was definitely the sweetest candy he'd ever tasted, and he was sure he'd be tasting her again real soon.

* * *

><p>I really have no words for this. And yet, I'm most likely about to write a 500 word note! I'm sorry if Daryl's probably a little OOC. I'm pretty sure I got a little carried away. I was just listening to this song the other day and thought how amusing it would be if Daryl walked in on Beth singing it while dancing! I felt like hilarity would ensue. Then I started writing it and instead of funny, I got sexy! It's still pretty funny in my opinion. Or at least I hope it's a little funny. I just hope it is a delight all around for whoever reads it. As for my regular viewers that are reading Against All Odds, another update will be shortly. I have chapter 4 and 5 written out, and I will hopefully be working on chapter 6 soon as well. For now, just enjoy this candy. ;)<p> 


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